Nathaniel Lindley and Andrea Forestieri had never met each other before August, much less played soccer with each other. However, Lindley, a senior at Marcus Whitman, and Forestieri, a foreign exchange student from Italy, quickly developed chemistry on the soccer field for the Wildcats.

Through 10 games, Lindley leads the team with 15 goals and has one assist and Forestieri has four goals and a team-high eight assists.The duo have set each other up for goals six times already.

"It's a hard relationship, I work and he scores," Forestieri joked.

Nathaniel's parents, David Lindley and Diane Peters, are hosting Forestieri for the school year. Forestieri is from Parma, which is in the northern part of Italy. The foreign exchange student said living in the countryside is much different than home, where his city has a population of about 200,000.

The Lindleys were selected as Forestieri's host family because Nathaniel plays soccer year round. The sport has been a strong bond for the boys.

"We watch a lot of soccer on TV or play FIFA together," Lindley said.

When they play the FIFA video game, Forestieri plays as the popular Italian team AC Milan and Lindley plays as England's Everton F.C. They couldn't agree on who won more video game soccer matches.

The sport is different from back in Italy where Forestieri explained they don't have school teams. He played on a club team where they practiced three times a week. Forestieri said he liked being able to play and practice more with the Wildcats.

The Italian also got his first exposure to playing on a turf field at Waterloo, which he discovered is not his playing surface of choice. However, Forestieri did score a goal on that field.

Forestieri is one of two Italians on the soccer team this fall. Defender Luca Menicali is from Fermo, three hours south of Parma.

Forestieri is unsure if he'll play other sports at Marcus Whitman in the winter and spring. He's considering basketball and either baseball or tennis.

The Lindleys took Forestieri to his first county fair before school started and are planning to bring him to New York City. He's also getting accustomed to the local cuisine, "His dad is a pretty good chef, but the school food is not so good," Forestieri said; and american football, "It's a slower sport than soccer, it's different."

While the two seniors are certainly doing well individually, Marcus Whitman is off to a strong start as a team with an 8-3 record. Lindley said it's hard work in practice and team chemistry that has the Wildcats playing well.

First-year coach Matt Palmer said it's nice having someone with an outside perspective of the game.

"Andrea's very good at pulling someone to a side and telling them, 'No, this is the way you're supposed to do it,'" he said. "Nathaniel has done it too, they've both been a big help because they understand the game at a higher level than most high schoolers probably do. They not only make themselves better, but also make the other players on the team better as well. So, it's been nice."